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Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Rory McIlroy admits he was ‘pissed off' over driver fail leak at US PGA
Silence, sometimes, can be golden. Or not. In Rory McIlroy's case, his decision to remain media shy for the entirety of the recent US PGA Championship , through all four rounds at Quail Hollow, came with a myriad of reasons which – finally – he explained ahead of the RBC Canadian Open in Ontario. Of course, the case of how McIlroy's TaylorMade driver's failed characteristic time (CT) test prior to the opening round was leaked, while that of Scottie Scheffler's failed test wasn't, proved the primary thorn in the world number two's side and why he opted to keep his thoughts to himself. In describing the PGA week as 'weird' for a variety of reasons, he provided day-by-day explanations for not talking to any media – written, radio or television – following any round. Day one. 'I didn't play well the first day, so I wanted to go practice.' READ MORE Day two. 'We finished late. I wanted to go back and see Poppy before she went to bed.' Also, that day, the news of his driver failing the CT test broke. 'I didn't really want to speak on that,' he admitted. Come Saturday, another reason for not talking. 'I was supposed to tee off at 8.20 in the morning. I didn't tee off until almost 2.0 in the afternoon, another late finish, was just tired, wanted to go home.' Then, Sunday's final round. Again, quiet. Rory McIlroy speaks to the media ahead of the start of the RBC Canadian Open. Photograph:'I just wanted to get on the plane and go back to Florida. Yeah, look, and also the driver stuff, there was – I was a little pissed off because I knew that Scottie's driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked. It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. 'Again, I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because there's a lot of people that – I'm trying to protect Scottie. I don't want to mention his name. I'm trying to protect TaylorMade. I'm trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time. 'With Scottie's stuff, that's not my information to share. I knew that that had happened, but that's not on me to share that, and I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn't for whatever reason. That's why I was pretty annoyed at that,' expanded McIlroy on his rationale for keeping away from media, as – under the rules and regulations of the PGA of America and the PGA Tour – he was entitled to do. He added: 'I've been beating this drum for a long time. If they want to make it mandatory, that's fine, but in our rules it says that it's not, and until the day that that's maybe written into the regulations, you're going to have guys skip from time to time, and that's well within our rights ... just some days you don't feel like talking.' McIlroy – a three-time winner on the PGA Tour with his Masters success in April completing the career Grand Slam and joining the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am and The Players on his season's roll of honour – is back playing in Canada for the first time since Quail Hollow in a quest for a third Canadian Open title. His previous two wins, though, came at different venues and, like the majority of the field, the TPC Toronto layout is a new one for this week's tour stop. 'There's a little bit of room off the tee, the fairways are quite generous, but if you miss them, the rough is pretty penal. The greens are tricky, undulating, really got to hit it into the right sections,' said McIlroy. 'I think it could be a good test by the end of the week if there's no rain and it firms up a little bit and they can tuck the pins away.' McIlroy is one of three Irish players in the field in Toronto ahead of next week's US Open at Oakmont, with Shane Lowry – the third best ranked player in the field after McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg based off the world rankings – and Séamus Power also chasing the title which was won last year by Robert MacIntyre. Lowdown Purse: $9.8 million/€8.65 million ($1.76 million to the winner/€1.55 million). Where: Caledon, Ontario. The course: TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course) – 7,389 yards, par 70 – is designed by Ian Andrew and is playing host to the tournament for the first time after undergoing significant renovation through 2023 and 2024 to prepare for the PGA Tour event. The course is a public facility. It is seen as a second shot golf course with an emphasis on approach play to greens well protected by strategic bunkering. The field: No Scottie Scheffler this week as he rests up ahead of next week's US Open so it is Rory McIlroy's turn to sprinkle the star dust in his quest for a third Canadian Open title. McIlroy and Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg are the only two players from the world's top-10 in the field as many take a break ahead of Oakmont. Quote-Unquote: 'The last two weeks have been pretty good for me, I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not been kind of easy sailing for me this year. It's been a little bit of trying to fix certain things. But now I feel like we're on the right path and the game's starting to kind of merge together.' – defending champion Robert MacIntyre on turning his game around. The Scot is playing for the fifth straight week on tour and has four top-10s so far this season. Irish in the field: McIlroy is grouped with Aberg and Luke Clanton, making his pro debut, as part of the early wave (off the 10th, 12.40pm Irish time); Shane Lowry is in a three-ball with MacIntyre and Corey Conners, the top ranked Canadian off the world rankings (off the 1st at 5.55pm Irish time); while Séamus Power is grouped with Peter Malnati and Rafael Campos (off the 1st at 6.06pm). Aside from his tournament ambitions, Power will also be chasing one of three spots available for those not already exempt for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush. Betting: McIlroy is looking for a third win at the tournament (at a third different venue) and, playing for the first time since the US PGA, is market leader at 4-1 with Aberg next at 12-1 and Shane Lowry alongside Corey Conners at 20s. However, better value may lie elsewhere: Nick Taylor is coming off a top-5 at the Memorial and looks decently priced at 40-1 each-way, while Erik van Rooyen's performance in the US Open qualifying would suggest the Springbok has found some form and is worth a look each-way at 80-1. On TV: Live on Sky Sports (early round coverage from 5pm).
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Scottie Scheffler berates US PGA organisers over mud balls
Scottie Scheffler has accused the organisers of the US PGA Championship of leaving elements of the major to 'chance' after their refusal to implement preferred lies for round one at Quail Hollow. The Charlotte venue was battered by rain between Friday and Wednesday; the upshot was mud balls for several competitors, including Scheffler. On the 16th hole, his 8th, Scheffler found water from the middle of the fairway and made a double bogey. Scheffler recovered to post a two-under-par 69 but addressed the mud ball issue during media duties. 'I hit in the middle of the fairway, you've got mud on your ball and it's tough to control where it goes after that,' Scheffler said. 'It's frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it's going to go. 'You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don't make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules.' Major championship committees are typically reluctant to implement preferred lies due to the perception it would devalue the tournament. Scheffler claimed he was 'not surprised' about the policy in North Carolina. He said: 'If you're going to go play links golf, there's absolutely no reason you should play the ball up. It doesn't matter how much rain they get. The course could be flooded and the ball is still going bounce because of the way the turf is and the ground underneath the turf. 'In American golf it's significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there's going to be a lot of mud on the ball. When you think about the purest test of golf, I don't personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for. 'I understand how a golf purist would be, 'Oh, play it as it lies.' But I don't think they understand what it's like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance. In golf, there's enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don't think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down. I want the purest, fairest test of golf.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Xander Schauffele, who played alongside Scheffler, bemoaned the same scenario. 'The mud balls are going to get worse,' said the defending champion. 'They're going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it's kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. Maybe hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn't carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It's a bit of a crapshoot.'
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Rory McIlroy looks to go beyond the end of the rainbow
After reaching paradise by completing the career Grand Slam with his Masters win, stating on Wednesday that he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in golf, what now for Rory McIlroy? Is that sense of 'fulfilment' dangerous, asks Denis Walsh. How long can it last 'before it becomes corrosive?' 'What do you do when you reach the end of the rainbow?' Well, we're about to find out just how hungry McIlroy is for another major, the US PGA Championship getting under way today at Quail Hollow - a course, Denis reminds us, where McIlroy's record is staggering . He has been drawn in a stellar group with world number one Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Xander Schauffele, but who else is in contention? 'Is there a lurker in the field this week,' Denis wonders. Paradise for the Irish football team would be qualifying for the next World Cup - and manager Heimir Hallgrímsson is certain the mission can be accomplished . 'This is how we should all think: we are going to the World Cup,' he said when he unveiled his squad for next month's friendlies against Senegal and Luxembourg. Gavin Cummiskey brings you the details. Gordon Manning, meanwhile, sets the scene for camogie's 'hastily arranged' special congress next Thursday when another vote will be taken on the skorts issue, while Ciarán Murphy reflects on the success of this season's provincial football finals . 'If you were looking for evidence that these are trophies that exist as their own entity, and are deemed worth winning in their own right, look no further than the last two weeks.' READ MORE If the provincial finals don't always receive a whole lotta love, the split season has had its doubters too . But Muireann Duffy heard Gaelic Players Association chief executive Tom Parsons reiterate his stance that it should be maintained. In rugby, while Munster, still battling to make the last eight, have a key URC game against Benetton tomorrow night, 'the fates of the other three Irish provinces are already determined,' writes John O'Sullivan . Leinster will start the knock-out stage as top seeds, but Ulster and Connacht are out. There is, though, still plenty at stake for players with ambitions of making the Irish squad for July's games against Georgia and Portugal. And in his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan tells us about the key question Americans wanted answered after Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope - were his baseball allegiance with the White Sox or the Cubs? The Cubs tried to claim him, but Prevost's brother John confirmed that he grew up supporting the White Sox. That, a fellow fan ruefully noted, means 'he can identify with suffering'. TV Watch: It's round one of the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow today, Sky Sports Golf bringing you just the 11 hours of coverage (from 1pm). And this evening Barcelona need just a point from their game against their beloved neighbours Espanyol to wrap up their 28th La Liga title (ITV4 and Premier Sports 1, 8.30).
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
McIlroy goes hunting back-to-back Majors at a course where he has dominated
Jack Nicklaus used to say that Majors were easier because only a few players believed they could win. Padraig Harrington reached the same conclusion. In that case this is simple. Rory McIlroy is the hottest player on the planet; Scottie Scheffler is contesting his eighth straight Major as the world's number one, the longest such streak since peak Tiger Woods; Xander Schauffele is the only player with top 10s in his last five Major appearances. He won it last year. Remember? Anybody else? Bryson DeChambeau leads everybody in scoring average, birdie average, and strokes gained off the tee at the US PGA Championship since 2020. He also punches with a horseshoe in his glove. Collin Morikawa is the only player who figures in the top 10 for driving accuracy and greens in regulation on the PGA Tour this season, a classic recipe for Major golf. He's a former champion too. Did we mention Justin Thomas? Ludwig Aberg? Viktor Hovland? Are we forgetting somebody? For many years the US PGA Championship had a reputation for throwing up winners from outer space. In the last 50 years it has produced 17 one-time Major winners, significantly more than any of golf's other elite events. Many of them were players of no pedigree at this level who surfed a glorious wave: Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Mark Brooks, Wayne Grady, Y.E Yang, Steve Elkington, John Mahaffey, Jeff Sluman and others. READ MORE Is there a lurker in the field this week? If trends can be trusted the US PGA has a different personality now. Since Jimmy Walker in 2016, every champion has been a multiple Major winner, either then or soon afterwards. No shocks. In the top 10 last year only Thomas Detry entered the picture from left field, and he was six shots back. It is easy to dwell on McIlroy and Scheffler and it is too soon to be wrong. Funny how the world spins. On this week 12 months ago McIlroy filed for divorce and Scheffler was arrested for a driving offence in the early morning darkness. In his practice round on Wednesday he wore a T-shirt in the burnt orange colour of the most famous mug shot in golf, a méme made flesh. In his press conferences Scheffler never parts the curtain on his feelings or his inner thoughts, but McIlroy often does. This week there was an interesting peek into his mentality. A few of the top players were asked which part of their game they would like to borrow from another player and who that player was. Quick as a flash Jordan Spieth said he would love to take Scheffler's approach play. Scheffler had given every question a short, circumspect answer, but for that one he launched into a riff, name-checking McIlroy, Sam Burns, Tiger Woods, Spieth and Jon Rahm, identifying the part of their game that he coveted or admired. When the same reporter asked McIlroy that question, though, he shut him down. He had no desire to be diplomatic or to flatter any of his peers. 'I wouldn't trade [any part of my game],' he said. The reporter went in again, slightly changing the angle of attack. McIlroy balked him. 'I'm focused on my game,' he said. Next question. In golf numbers can be manipulated to say anything. The spectrum of numbers to express McIlroy's dominance of Quail Hollow, though, is staggering. Not only has he won here four times but his scoring average on this course is nearly a shot better than anybody else. His career total at Quail Hollow is 102 under par, which is 55 shots better than the next player. He has the best career score on the par-5s, and, since 2010 he has the most birdies on the Green Mile, the treacherous closing stretch where the tournament is likely to be won and lost. Consider that statistic for a second: when the US PGA was played at Quail Hollow in 2017 there were more double bogeys on the Green Mile than birdies. Why does it suit McIlroy's game? An analysis by the PGA found that there were only two other venues on tour where driving had a greater influence on the outcome. The lay-out of the course suits McIlroy's hard draw off the tee, and only two players on tour hit the ball further than he does. In a deeper dive by they discovered that long approaches to the green were critical. From inside 100 yards McIlroy's statistics for proximity to the hole are below the PGA Tour average but from outside 200 yards his numbers are significantly above average. By those points of difference McIlroy has turned Quail Hollow into a colony. With so much rainfall this week the emphasis on carry off the tee will be enormous. 'This is a bomber's paradise,' said DeChambeau, licking his lips. Shane Lowry doesn't share DeChambeau's enthusiasm. His second place finish last weekend lifted him into the world's top 10 for the first time in his career but he has no fondness for Quail Hollow. 'I have no record around here at all,' he said on Wednesday. 'You know, bad. Not played well.' His form coming here in other years, though, was never as good as it is now, and when he explored his stats a little more deeply he said he found reasons to be hopeful. But Lowry is trying to talk himself into a challenge. McIlroy doesn't need to.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rory McIlroy warns US PGA rivals: ‘Now I've won a career slam, the rest is a bonus'
Rory McIlroy has warned his rivals that he is playing with the biggest pile of house money imaginable as the Northern Irishman prepares for his first major since completion of the career grand slam. McIlroy will tee up on Thursday morning in the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow – a venue where he has tasted victory four times – a month after claiming the Masters. McIlroy's emotional glory at Augusta National made him just the sixth golfer in history to win all four men's majors. 'I have achieved everything that I've wanted,' McIlroy said. 'I have done everything I've wanted to do in the game. I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I've done that. Everything beyond this, for however long I decide to play the game competitively, is a bonus.' Every McIlroy interview now reflects upon Masters Sunday, when he fell to the ground amid moving scenes upon securing a playoff success over Justin Rose. McIlroy's triumph has reverberated way beyond sport. 'I've tried not to watch it a lot because I want to remember the feelings,' said McIlroy of his immediate celebration. 'I've talked about this before, but I think when I rewatch a lot of things back, I then just remember the visuals of the TV rather than what I was feeling and what I was seeing through my own eyes. So I haven't tried to watch it back too much. But anytime I have, I well up. I still feel like I want to cry. 'It was an involuntary. I've never felt a release like that before and I might never feel a release like that again. That could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing and it was a very cool moment.' Bryson DeChambeau, who played in McIlroy's company during the final round at Augusta, rather pointedly stated that the champion did not speak with him on the course. The American, who may well also be in the US PGA mix, had slumped to a closing 75 for a share of fifth. 'I don't know what he was expecting,' McIlroy said. 'We're trying to win the Masters. I'm not going to try to be his best mate out there. 'Look, everyone approaches the game in different ways. I was focused on myself and what I needed to do. That's really all that it was. It wasn't anything against him. It was just I felt that's what I needed to do to try to get the best out of myself that day.' It is telling – and deliberate – that McIlroy will not publicly set more professional targets. He is now within one, say, of Nick Faldo's major haul of six. Faldo's tally is the highest by a European. 'I think everyone saw how hard having a north star is and being able to get over the line,' he said. 'If I can just try to get the best out of myself each and every week, I know what my abilities are. I know the golf that I can play. If I keep turning up and just trying to do that each and every week, especially in these four big ones a year, I know that I'll have my chances. 'I've always said I'm never going to put a number on it. I've talked about trying to become the best European ever or the best international player ever or whatever that is. The numbers tell one story, but it mightn't be the full story. 'I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the career grand slam stuff and I want to enjoy this. I want to enjoy what I've achieved and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career. I don't want to burden myself by numbers or statistics. I just want to go and try to play the best golf I can.' McIlroy's chances in Charlotte appear to increase with every falling raindrop. Quail Hollow has been battered by precipitation since Friday, meaning McIlroy's distance and accuracy with driver in hand should be extra valuable. In 13 Quail Hollow starts, McIlroy has posted nine top 10s. His score to par over that period is 102 under. 'I think early in my career that these conditions favoured me more,' McIlroy explained. 'But I believe that Pinehurst [at the US Open] last year favoured me. I believe that firm conditions favour me. I believe that any conditions that we play in, I have the abilities and I have the skill set to excel.' McIlroy was stern-faced when asked if there was any element of his game he would swap with another player in this sport. 'I wouldn't trade,' said the 36-year-old. He has no apparent need to either.
